The present invention relates to the field of medicine, more particularly to traditional Chinese medicine, namely acupuncture and moxatherapy and has for its object a heating acupuncture needle.
Acupuncture with the use of heating means at the acupuncture point is a traditional technique which generally uses wormwood or another means, most often vegetable, brought to very high temperature, namely consuming itself by charring.
At present, this treatment technique is used, as explained more particularly in U.S. Pat. No. 3,875,944, by means of an acupuncture needle provided at its upper portion with a sleeve for reception of incandescent moxa or wood charcoal. Because of the very great heat given off by the moxa or the wood charcoal, there is produced a transmission of heat by conduction of the sleeve toward the end of the needle, this supplemental heat being adapted to carry out a heating in depth of the human tissues or all the length of penetration of the needle with however progressive decrease of thermal energy, corresponding to progressive decrease of the temperature of the sleeve toward the point of the needle.
This traditional treatment technique however has the drawback, on the one hand, of high risk of burning the skin, on the other hand of giving rise to a large and troublesome emission of smoke and, finally, of not permitting the use of moxa in a permanent and/or ambulatory manner.
Thus, the arrangement of the wormwood or incandescent wood charcoal on the sleeve provided at the end of the acupuncture needles has high risk of contacting said wormwood or wood charcoal directly with the skin and hence of deeply burning the latter, due to the temperature of incandescence of the wormwood or of the wood charcoal which is of the order of 700xc2x0 C. It is therefore necessary, on the one hand, that the practitioner arrange the acupuncture needles such that the heat source remains at least two centimeters from the skin and, on the other hand, that during treatment, the patient remains absolutely motionless so as to avoid any risk of contact between the wormwood or the wood charcoal and the skin following a movement of the needle into its flexible nature. This also gives rise to the need to carry out a depth of acupuncture of at least 5 mm, which prevents the treatment of regions difficult to puncture, such as the scalp and the face. Similarly, the treatment of hairy regions can require preliminary shaving of the skin.
Moreover, certain types of skin have a particular sensitivity to the heat produced by the wormwood that is consumed.
The release of smoke is also a great drawback, not only because of the difficulty thus occasioned, but also because said smoke, which contains toxic elements, can be the cause of headaches and other symptoms, which requires the use of evacuation systems such as hoods.
Finally, in view of the mentioned risks, it is impossible to envisage the use of moxa continuously and/or in an ambulatory manner with traditional means, which requires the continuous presence of the practitioner during all the treatment, which can have a duration of 30 minutes or more.
It has also been proposed, in EP-A-552 482, to carry out heating at the point of acupuncture by means of a heating source of the electric type, said heating source co-acting with an application surface of the heat that can be disposed at the acupuncture point. Such a device of course permits heating without risk and perfectly controlled at the point of acupuncture but however the device according to this EP-A-552 482 does not permit heating at a regular depth, over all the depth, of the human tissue.
As a result, a regulation of the human thermal phenomena, such as is obtained by traditional means, is only difficultly achieved.
To avoid these drawbacks, there has been proposed, in FR-A-2 715 838 and in PCT/FR95/00145, a heating acupuncture needle provided with an external heat source co-acting with heating means, which is integrated with the needle over all the length of the latter and is present in the form of a thermal conductor or a resistive wire, of which one end is flush with the upper end of the head of the needle and is in contact with a conductive wall of the heat source.
Such a needle permits carrying out a heating, subdermally, at the acupuncture or reflexotherapy point, such that it is possible to carry out a non-exclusive single point stimulation, of variable depth and extent by means of a portable and self-contained assembly requiring no external connection by means of wires or other connectors.
However, because of the provision as heat production and/or transmission means, of a thermal conductor or of a resistive wire in the body of the needle, this latter is less flexible, which leads to less efficiency.
The present invention has for its object to overcome the drawbacks of the known heating acupuncture needles, by providing such a needle having flexibility comparable to that of conventional acupuncture needles, whilst permitting results of regular and constant penetration of the heat into the human tissue at least comparable to those obtained by traditional acupuncture means with moxa.
To this end, the invention has for its object a heating acupuncture needle provided with an external energy source co-acting with a heating means forming an integral part of the needle and extending over all the length of the latter, characterized in that the heating means is present in the form of a thin resistive envelope surrounding the body of the needle over all its surface except the upper end of its head, which remains uncovered.